1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of educational board games, and more particularly to a board game for stimulating interest in reading.
2. Technical Background
Reading literature for some people is a very rewarding, entertaining, educational, stimulating and pleasurable experience. For a majority of people, however, this is not the case. During the school years, reading is mostly a passive learning process, which often can be boring and promote thoughtless regurgitation. Under these circumstances, reading is perceived as a chore and burden. On the other hand, reading would be more enjoyable and interesting if it would lead to increased comprehension skills, critical thinking, and communication skills.
It is known that the process of predicting during reading promotes interest in reading and critical thinking. For example, during the reading of a novel, if the reader is continuously trying to predict the future events and outcomes of the story, the process of reading becomes interesting and stimulating. The more this prediction process occurs the more critical thinking skills and communication skills are developed, in addition to a resulting sustained and growing interest in the very act of reading. However, there are no effective methods or devices to promote the prediction process during reading. Such a method and or device would be beneficial because interest in reading would not only be stimulated in the art of fiction literature but would carry over to non-fiction literature including science and technology.
Numerous educational games are known to teach one how to read and to develop reading skills. The advantage of educational games is that they motivate a person to perform the work tasks that lead to the development of a particular skill. At present, there are no effective game methods or systems to promote interest in the act of reading or to stimulate predicting activity during reading.